Blessed Exchanges
by hhooppyy
Summary: "What. Just. Happened? Did he really just propose?" *updated 12/26*
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is my Castleland secret santa gift for theonlyspl on livejournal

I would like to thank my wonderful beta for helping me through writing this...it would not be anywhere near as good as it is without her. I would also like to thank jenjac for talking with me about ways to improve this story (hopefully these updates are satisfying to the issues she brought up and helped me see)

*updated 12/26/11 (and unbeta'd so any new mistakes are most definitely all mine)*

* * *

><p><em>Snick...kerthump. Snick...kerthump.<em>

With each opening and closing of the little white box in his hand, Castle's mind played out one more scenario about how Beckett would react to the present he had gotten for her. _Snick_. She would probably love, or at least pretend to love, the part of the present that was wrapped and currently wedged under his arm..._kerthump_...but the other part—the little white box? _Why had he thought that what he had gotten Beckett would be at all appropriate?_

_Snick._ Looking down at his hands, Castle stared at the thin metal band nestled within the confines of the box. _This was such a stupid idea. No way Beckett is going to appreciate it. I cannot give this to her...or can I? Maybe she will get it. Maybe she will understand._

_Yeah right. No way she will understand. _With one final kerthump, Castle closed the box and stuck it in his pocket as the elevator dinged to announce its arrival.

Standing there in the elevator watching the numbers light up as the elevator slowly rose past each floor, inching it was towards the fourth floor and the fate that awaited him; Castle's nerved started to get the best of him. Fiddling nervously with the edge of the wrapping paper free of tape, he started wishing on anything that he could think of that by some miracle the elevator would somehow come to a stop…just for a bit. Just long enough to gather himself…or maybe talk himself out of giving the gift—either of them. As the elevator passed the second floor, fantasies about how he could get out of his 'predicament' began to fill his head. _It isn't too late. I could always say I forgot it...or I could just hit that 3 and get off a floor early and run for it. No one would be any the wiser._

Before he knew it, the elevator was rising past the third floor. With each passing second it became more and more obvious that not deity or lucky star or magical sock was going to help him out. He was going to have to get off on the fourth floor and face Kate. _Ooh! Maybe I can hide to the side….or get off fast and make a run for the stairs. They might see me, but by time they can react I will be long gone. Oh, who am I kidding?_

Castle was shocked back to reality by a surprisingly loud ding as the elevator announced its arrival and came to a stop. On a normal day, one would probably find Castle hitting the 'open door' button trying to convince the doors to open faster: however, on this day, Castle couldn't be more thankful for the slow crawl with which the doors opened. Every second that passed allowed him to form and put on one of his carefully crafted personas that he had developed over his years attending a variety of events that he would rather have skipped. With a deep breath, the persona firmly settled in place, and he was ready for anybody he might meet once he stepped off the elevator.

Even not knowing what to expect, Castle was gob smacked by the sheer amount of festive decorations that festooned the homicide division. When he had disappeared a week earlier to do 'real work' as Paula liked to call it, the room had been its normal drab self. There had maybe been a card sitting on one or two of the desks, and one person may have decked out their desk, but overall it was pretty normal. Now, he could hardly believe that he was standing in the same room. Hanging off the edges of every desk and along every juncture of wall and ceiling were green garlands dotted with bright red berries. Along with the garlands, large evergreen wreaths had been hung from several of the walls, each with a large red ribbon adorning it. While all those decorations were breathtaking, nothing could compare to the Christmas tree that sat in the corner on the desk that had been sitting vacant for several months. Surrounded by a pile of presents that sat on a red velvet sheet, the tree practically glowed from the light reflecting off the mirrored glass balls and the tinsel that hung from the branches.

Attracted to the shiny tree like a moth to flame, Castle wended his way through the crowd of officers and detectives; intent on seeing the sight up close.

Reaching the tree, Castle set the gift he had been carrying on the table before letting his eyes wander back up to the tree towering above him. With a quick little shake of his head, Castle cleared the shiny vision from his eyes. Looking down, intent of looking for Beckett, Castle's eyes were drawn towards the presents sitting in front of him. Giving no thought to the fact that the presents were not for him, he started picking up the presents, one at a time, and shaking them before placing them back under the tree. As he shook the fourth present, a small noise that he didn't recognize froze him in place. As he unfroze, he started looking around for the noises source.

As his eyes skirted over the crowd of people, his eyes settled on the light glowing from the windows of the conference room and the vision sitting within. Grabbing the present he had brought from the desk, Castle made his way unseeingly through the crowd angling for the conference room and the detective who sat within apparently deep in thought.

When he drew close enough, he finally saw that Beckett was sitting in the room alone, filling out paperwork. While he wanted to do nothing more than enter the room and offer her his company, he was stopped in his tracks by the beauty of Kate as she lifted her hand and brushed a piece of hair behind her ear absentmindedly.

"It's still creepy, Castle." Beckett said without looking up from the paper she was filling out.

Knowing better than to try and rebut the statement, Castle entered the room in his usual flamboyant manner and sat down on the chair across the table from her. Leaning back in his chair, Castle was content to just watch as Beckett continued to fill out paperwork.

With a grand gesture by her standards, Beckett signed the last page of the form in front of her and closed the case file with a sense of finality. Leaning back, matching Castle's position, Beckett closed her eyes and let out a contented sigh as her back popped in relief.

"So, Castle. What are you doing here? You said that you weren't going to make it tonight."

"Plans changed." Castle succinctly replied. "The better question, I think, Detective, is why are you in here doing paperwork instead of out there partying with everyone else?"

"Maybe I was waiting, hoping, that you would show up. Maybe I didn't think it would be as fun without you." Beckett coyly replied without missing a beat with her eyes still closed.

"Really?"

"No. Not really." As the smile melted off Castle's face, a small smile started to form on hers. "Well, maybe a little" as the blissful smile overtook Castle's face, an evil grin sprouted on hers. "but mostly I just wanted to finish this report before going home for the weekend."

"So, how did you guys manage to get Gates to approve this party anyways?" Castle asked when he couldn't come up with a reply. "It doesn't really seem like something she would allow in her station."

"She didn't really have a choice in the matter. The order for it came from above her: something about rewarding us for our hard work, even after encountering such trying time and losses or some such nonsense." Opening her eyes, Beckett started to stand up, reaching for the file as she did. Only, instead of her fingers closing around the stiff cardstock of the file folder, her fingers wrapped around the present that Castle had placed there instead. Raising an eyebrow in question, Beckett sat back down and drew the present closer to examine it.

"What? You said that partners would be exchanging gifts today. I am your partner. This is my gift to you." Castle shrugged his shoulders in an offhand manner as if to say 'you should know better.' Regarding the small smile that showed up on her face, he rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. "You weren't asking very loudly, Beckett."

She grinned at that before playing with the wrapper in her hands. She was not surprised to see the expectant look in his eyes. "But I don't have your gift."

He raised his hand to make a 'so so' motion and leaned forward with a huge grin. "That's okay. Just open it anyways. You can always give me my gift later."

With a frown on her face, Beckett looked up from the package. "You know, Castle; I am a grown woman and perfectly capable of unwrapping a present by myself. You didn't need to start the job for me. I think I probably could have figured it out."

At the confused and slightly frightened look on Castle's face, Beckett winked at him with a suggestive smile on her lips before she stuck the tip of her finger under the edge of the paper—torn and bedraggled from Castle's worrying—and wiggled it. Eyes sparkling with amusement, Beckett looked back to the present and started to unwrap it.

Tearing the paper off and removing the lid and tissue paper from the box within, Beckett found herself holding a beautiful, clearly custom made, oxidized silver wrought iron frame. It was as if several strands of iron had been twisted together to form an intricate, yet at the same time simple and elegant, pattern that surrounded the picture—a picture of the two of them that must have been taken during the first real snow storm that season. In the picture, she stood there wearing her bright red pea coat, black gloves sticking out of the pocket, with both hand raised, palms up, as if to try and catch snowflakes as they fell. While her head was tipped back, letting snowflakes land on her face, Castle stood a little ways away staring at her with a look of wonder and something else as she let some of her defenses down for that moment.

"The look on your face that day—while you are always beautiful, gorgeous really, that look on your face that night elevated you to a whole other level. You were radiation joy and happiness that night and I almost couldn't believe it was you. The joy that something as simple as snow gave you was a sight to behold. Even the most miserable person would have smiled right along with you that night."

As Castle told his story, Kate let her fingers wander around the frame, tracing the lines as they wove around the picture frame. Reaching the bottom left hand corner with her fingers, a sense of confusion momentarily took over Kate as her fingers danced over a circular void in the pattern. While there were other voids in the design, this one felt purposeful, like it was waiting for something to fill it. Not seeing anything to fill the void, Kate tore her eyes from the frame and looked up at Castle with a questioning expression.

Before Castle could even attempt to answer her question, a knock sounded on the conference room door and one of the rookie officers walked in. "Detective Beckett?" as soon as Beckett acknowledged the officer, he continued, "Someone is on the phone and insisting that they talk to you. I tried to tell them you were busy, but they insisted. It has been redirected to the phone on your desk. And, if you are done with that file, I can take it and file it for you."

Grabbing the file from the table, Beckett handed it to the officer as she walked out the door and over to her desk.

As Castle watched her pick up the phone, he couldn't help but stare as she bent over and pulled out a pen and a piece of paper. Without even thinking about it, Castle pulled the box out of his pocket once again and started playing with it. _Snick…kerthump. Snick….kerthump. _With the sound of the opening and closing box creating a backdrop of noise, Castle found himself losing focus as he watched Beckett take the phone call.

"Before you ask, that was my dad calling. No, nothing is wrong, he just couldn't get an answer on my cell…" Kate was saying as she entered the room before Castle had even realized that she was no longer out at her desk on the phone.

Passing Castle as she walked through the door, Beckett froze in her tracks when a small movement caught her attention. Turning slightly, Kate saw that Castle was opening and closing a little white box—a box she was sure he had not been holding when he entered the room—as he watched with his eyebrows wrinkled in consternation.

As if suddenly realizing that she was standing next to him, Castle's hands stilled as he looked up at her. Taking in her wide-eyed expression, he attempted to shove the box back into his jacket pocket and away from Beckett's prying eyes.

"Castle? What was that?"

"Nothing." In response to the narrowing of Kate's eyes as she didn't believe him, he felt forced to add "It is _nothing_."

Castle felt some of the tension release its hold on him as Kate's eyes gradually opened like she was slowly believing his story.

Without any warning, Beckett suddenly turned on Castle, jumping forwards and grabbing the box from his pocket before jumping back to her original position with box in hand.

"So, Castle. This is nothing you say? Why don't we just see what this 'nothing' is?"

Moving with a speed neither of them knew possible, Castle jumped from the chair and attempted to grab the box from Kate's hands. Even with the burst of speed, however, he was unable to reach Beckett before she opened the box. Returning to his chair in dejection, Castle covered his face with his hands and prepared himself for the expected onslaught of punches—verbal and physical.

Standing there holding the box, Kate wasn't prepared for what she found inside—a beautiful yet simple ring made of a thin silver band topped with a single dark green emerald, flanked on either side by a small diamond.

When nothing happened, Castle slowly dropped his hands from his face and looked over at Kate. Seeing her frozen, staring at the ring with something like awe and terror written all over her face, Castle figured that then would be as good a time as any to explain.

"Kate." Castle gently said, hoping to break the tension that had taken a hold of her. "It isn't what you think." When Kate still didn't react, Castle took a deep breath, all the while never taking his eyes off the tense woman standing before him, before continuing with a slightly stronger voice. "The ring is a promise—a promise that, one day, I will have the life that I want with the woman that I love. You know that I would never propose like this, even if it wasn't too soon and you were ready for that kind of commitment. I would never try to rush you like that. I just thought you should know where I stand."

As Kate stood there staring at the ring, she heard Castle trying to explain the ring to her, she thought, but through her panic attack hazed hearing, all she heard was "Kate…I love you."

_Why can't I breathe? Why does the room feel so warm all the sudden? I can't stay her. I need to get out. I need to get out…NOW!_

As the box dropped, seemingly in slow motion, from her hands and bounced on the floor, Kate beat a hasty retreat out the conference room door and towards the elevator. Sidestepping the elevator for the door to the stairwell that lead to the roof, Kate disappeared from sight as Castle came to stand in the conference room doorway.

After a minute had passed, Castle turned back around and snatched the box up off the ground and gently fingered the stones on top of the ring. "That went well, I think," Castle muttered under his breath as he gently pulled the ring from the box. Castle grasped the settings and pulled the ring from its box. Placing the ring in the circular void in the frame that Kate had noted earlier, he flipped a small piece of metal over it to hold it in place before holding it slightly away from himself. With every slight movement that Castle made with his hands, a burst of light, silver or green, reflected off the frame, mesmerizing him. After watching the lights for a couple seconds, Castle tore his gaze from the frame and cleaned up the mess of wrappings that littered the table. As soon as everything was cleaned up, he gathered up the frame and ring box before heading for the door.

Turning to check that he had gathered everything he needed, Castle turned off the lights in the room and walked over towards Kate's desk. Noting the presence of her coat on the back of her chair, Castle placed the frame on her desk before waving goodbye to the boys and leaving.


	2. Chapter 2

Without stopping to contemplate her actions, Kate burst through the door to the stairwell and headed up the flight of stairs towards the roof. Once she had reached the landing and turned so that she was no longer visible from the door she had come through, Kate slowed down her ascent, allowing herself time to think.

_What. Just. Happened? Did he really just propose? Did I really drop the ring and run? What must he be thinking now? What was he thinking then? I knew he felt that way. How could I not after that afternoon? But why would he think that _now_ would be a good time to do that? Isn't it just a little fast? _

_Who am I kidding? I'd be a hypocrite to ignore the tingles I felt but HOLY CRAP! He proposed and told me he loved me!_

As her feet dragged, slowly carrying her up the stairs, she was no longer paying attention to where her feet were taking her until a blast of cold air shocked her from her reverie. Staring at the thick metal door in front of her, Kate pulled the chain out from under her shirt and started playing with the ring dangling from the center.

_Calm down, Kate. There has to be a logical, rational reason for his actions...he doesn't even know that you remember him telling you that he loves you. Why would he propose now? It just doesn't make sense. Think. THINK! Think about what he said. _

_Promise! The ring is a_ promise_, not a proposal._

Letting out a sigh of relief, but also feeling a little dejected at the realization that he hadn't proposed, Kate started spinning her mom's ring round and round before she could think about what that meant and let her mind wander—allowed herself to formulate a plan to fix the mess that she had made.

_What do I do, Mom?_

Turning around, Kate stored the ring back under her shirt and headed back down the stairs. Reaching the door to the homicide division, Kate took a deep breath and opened the door slowly so as to not draw attention to her. As she opened the door, Kate took in the people still mingling around the floor and hanging out in the various side rooms (at least those she could see inside from her position),and noted the conspicuous absence of one Richard Castle. Letting her breath out in a huff, whether of disappointment or relief- Kate wasn't sure and didn't want to know-she carefully walked towards her desk hoping to avoid being waylaid by any of the well-meaning detectives or officers.

Making it without incident to her desk, Kate grabbed her jacket from off the back of her chair and put it on before grabbing her purse. Just as she moved to turn off her computer, Kate saw that Castle had left the frame on her desk. Looking at the frame, Kate noticed the little addition of color at the bottom. Reaching out to grab the frame so that she could examine it better and see if the color was what she thought it was, something in the light changed and a pattern in the seemingly random squiggles jumped out at her—there mixed in with all the random swirls underneath the picture was the word, their word—_Always_.

Picking up the frame, Kate rubbed her finger over the word before gently placing it in her purse and walking over to the tree and picking up her present for Castle from underneath it. With a general wave to all the people still mingling around the floor, Kate headed back through the door to the stairs, this time heading downwards.

And hopefully, to her destiny.

-o-O-o-

Stepping off the elevator at Castle's loft, Kate couldn't help but let out a small laugh as she looked down at the present she was holding in her hands and noted what she had done—the edges were torn like she had started to unwrap it for him. Letting the lightness take over for a minute, Kate managed to walk all the way to right outside Castle's door before the nerves got to her again. Standing there, she almost talked herself into putting the present on the floor, knocking and turning heel and running. Instead she took a deep breath, just as she had at the station, and knocked on the door, pulling the present tighter to her chest as a sort of mock life preserver.

From inside, Kate heard the muffled call of "I'll get it" and felt the nerves return anew. Before she could enact her plan of running away, the lock clicked as it was unlocked and the door opened to reveal a grown-up looking Alexis standing there in a dark blue dress with a sophisticated but modest cut; hair pulled back in a classic French twist and a light dusting of make-up on her face.

"Detective Beckett! What are you doing here?" Alexis queried as she hopped around, clinging to the edge of the open door, as she tried to force her foot into a heel. Finally succeeding in her task, Kate watched as a light pink blush took over the teenager's face as she stood back up to fully face Kate. "Oh! Detective, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I do wonder why you are here but I didn't mean it to sound like you are unwelcome. Please, come in."

Stepping back to allow Kate entrance, Alexis' cheeks slowly returned to their normal color. Noticing the present Kate had clutched in her arms, Alexis reached out for it. "Is that Batman birthday wrapping paper? You know my dad's birthday isn't until April, right?"

She squirmed under Alexis' gaze and gave her a huge smile. "Yeah, but it seemed appropriate for you dad at the time."

"It is perfect. He'll love it! But, why didn't you give it to him earlier?" Alexis asked with her brow wrinkled in confusion. "He said he was going to the Christmas party and the precinct and he was going to give you his present. Didn't he make it there? Although, he did come home earlier than I expected so maybe he just missed you." Alexis continued without letting Kate answer.

"Alexis! No, your dad did meet me at the party, and he did give me the present…but I kind of had a little…melt-down and wasn't able to give him his gift before he left."

Unsure as to how to approach the detective, Alexis smiled warmly and led them to the couch. "Do you want to talk about it? I'm said to be a good listener."

Not knowing how to even begin explaining their complicated relationship to Alexis, Kate did her best to deflect. "Don't you have plans? I mean, clearly you do and I don't want to keep you from them." She smiled at the red head warmly. "Your dad and I will be fine."

"Kate. It's okay. My friends won't be here for a while yet. You don't have to talk if you don't want to, but I am here if you do." Sitting back against the arm of the couch opposite Kate, Alexis just watched out of the corner of her eye as Kate started playing with the paper on the box again.

_Wait for it... wait for it _

With a sudden movement, Kate pulled her purse up from the floor where it had landed when she sat down and pulled out the frame. Giving it another glance, Kate carefully handed it to Alexis. "This is the Christmas gift your dad gave me."

_Yes!_

"Oh! Detective Beckett…" She watched, awestruck at the gift. It was gorgeous!

"Kate." Beckett answered her offhandedly as she tried to figure out the best way to explain herself.

"Huh?" Alexis was pulled out of her reverie by the uncharacteristic tone that Beckett used to reply. She looked up at the older woman and was pleased to see a smile on her face-despite her nerves

"Please call me Kate."

"Okay….Kate. This is gorgeous! My dad wouldn't let me see it before he gave it to you, but it is beautiful." Just as Kate had done earlier that night, Alexis started running her fingers over the pattern inlaid in the frame. When she looked back up, Kate was quick to note that the look of confusion was once again firmly in place on her face. "I don't get it, though. You said you had a melt-down. But I don't see anything in this gift that should have caused that reaction."

"Look a little closer. Bottom right hand corner."

As Alexis once again allowed her fingers to drift over the pattern, she saw what she had initially missed, the small splash of green in the corner of the frame. Running her fingers over the section of metal beneath the spots of color, Alexis accidentally knocked the stopper off the ring causing it to fall out of its space into her hand.

"Kate?" Alexis asked looking up at Kate with a look of awed confusion mixed with guarded happiness. "Is this what I think it is? Is this an…engagement ring?"

"That is what I thought, too. I…let's just say that your dad didn't present it to me as nicely as I did to you and it…kinda freaked me out. Of course, while I was freaking out about the ring, he had to up the ante by telling me he loved me. Or at least, I think that is what he said," Kate muttered quickly under her breath before continuing. "I didn't know what to do, so I ran, well, quickly walked away and by time I had calmed myself down, he had gone."

Without any warning, Kate found herself wrapped up in the arms of the teenager who had leapt up at hearing what her dad had done. Tensing at the initial contact, Kate let herself relax as Alexis whispered soothingly in her ear. "Oh Kate! I am so sorry. I wish I could say what exactly was running through his mind when he planned this out, but I can't. Not this time. But, if there is one thing that I'm certain about, it is that he had good intentions-they just got a little mixed up along the way." Pulling back slight, Alexis looked at Kate and asked softly, "Kate, are you okay?"

"I'm good now. Thank you. Now, why don't you go have fun with your friends. I think your dad and I need to have a conversation about what happened tonight too."

-o-O-o-

Quietly opening the door to the study that had been firmly close, Kate looked in to find Castle typing away. Entranced by the look of concentration on his face as his fingers danced across the laptop keys with all the elegance of a professional pianist, Kate leaned against the edge of the door and stared. Watching him write, Kate wondered at the fact that in all their years together she had never actually seem him work—watching him now, Kate finally understood how Castle could just sit there and watch her do paperwork. It was exciting to see him completely ensnared by the world of his creation as he wrote down what he imagined the world to be.

"That's creepy, Detective."

"Well, turnabout _is_fair play, Writer." Kate replied as she pushed away from the door frame and walked into his office.

While she was always amazed by the sheer number of books that adorned the walls made up bookshelves, she ignored them as she walked purposefully over to his desk and set the present in front of him. Walking away like it was nothing; Kate turned and walked over to the comfortable black chair nestled in the corner near his desk. Curling up with her feet drawn up on the cushion and her arms wrapped around her knees, Kate rested her cheek on her knees and stared at Castle.

"What's this?" Castle asked as he picked up the box and shook it. Laughing slightly when he saw the paper.

Turning her head so that her chin was rested on her knee instead of her cheek, Kate rolled her eyes at him. "Wow, Castle. While I know you are not actually a detective, I thought your deductive skills would be better than that. A box, wrapped in paper, given to someone else…I believe that is what we lay people like to call a gift or a present."

"I got that." Castle said with a matching eye roll. "But, why are you giving me a present? Especially after what I did earlier."

"Well, Castle, I am pretty sure you mentioned that that thing at the station was a gift exchange between partners. I am pretty sure that a gift exchange requires that both people give gifts. You know, exchange them. I am just fulfilling my end of the bargain." While she tried not to smile as she spoke, she couldn't stop that suppressed smile, that seemed to have become habit for her as of late, from slipping out. "Besides, I had the present all wrapped up for you and sitting under the tree, just waiting for me to give it to you. Who was I to resist the plea of a present to go to its intended recipient?"

As she talked, Castle slowly nodded his head, but didn't speak.

"As for why I still wanted to give it to you," Beckett stopped and worried her lower lip slightly as she tried to figure out how exactly to continue, "I guess, it is kind of, an apology of sorts? I completely overreacted at the sight of the ring. I should have been calm, but the sight of the ring shocked me. It just seemed so sudden, but that is not to say completely unwelcome, and I didn't react well to the idea. It was almost like you stole my moment."

"Your moment?"

"Yes, my moment. I think you will understand what I mean when you open the present." Kate said as she watched him rub his fingers over the edge of the box he held in his hands. _Or at least I hope you will._

Finally accepting that Kate fully intended for him to have the gift, Castle started examining it.  
>"You know, Kate, I am also capable of unwrapping presents by myself." Castle said as he held up the present and pointed out the ragged edges to Kate all the while doing an internal happy dance at what he assumed to be an unintentional slip on Kate's part-<em>-it<em> _wouldn't be_ _completely unwelcome!_.

"Prove it then." Kate said, no longer worrying her lip, but instead smiling that small tight-lipped smile.

"What?"

"Prove it. You said you are capable, so unwrap it." Raising her eyebrow in jest, Kate once again leaned her chin against her knee after having removed it to make her point.

Holding up the box, Castle made a big show of first shaking it and then painstakingly splitting the tape so as to not rip the paper any more than it already was. By the time he had managed to split open the tape on one side of the box, Kate was antsy enough to contemplate jumping up from her chair, ripping the box from his hand and pulling the paper off before handing it back. By time that fantasy had played out in her head, Castle had managed to split the tape from one more side. With only one side to go, Kate decided to let him at it.

Several tense minutes later, Castle finally removed the paper before smoothing it out and folding it neatly like a little old lady intent on preserving it for future use. Before Kate could yell at him to hurry it along, Castle turned to her and smiled impishly at her with a sparkle in his eye. Opening the box, Castle pulled out what appeared to be a giant wad of tissue paper. There, wrapped in the paper, was his present—a travel coffee mug.

Slightly confused at the offering seeing as he already had travel mugs for both him and her, he raised an eyebrow in question. When Kate nodded slightly at the present, Castle turned is attention back to the mug, removed the rest of the paper and started spinning it around. When he finally landed on what Kate meant for him to see he let out a hearty laugh. There, permanently written into the side of the mug was his normal coffee order.

"Why, Detective, I didn't know that you knew my order."

"I am a _detective_as you are so fond of point out. I figured it out." Kate replied with a twinkle in her eyes.

Turning back to the cup, Castle noticed that it sat heavier in his hand then he would have expected of an empty cup. Pulling the lid off and setting it aside, Castle's mouth opened up a little in awe when he saw the small bag of coffee and the note: _Here are cups 1-5 of those 100 cups I owe you. Enjoy._

Not knowing the proper response, he continued to roll around the unintentional words that Kate had let slip-_completely unwelcome..completely unwelcome...an engagement ring from me wouldn't be completely unwelcome!_-and repackaged the mug and stood up. As he looked at Kate he thought he saw a flicker of disappointment cross her face, but before he could analyze it further, it was gone, replaced by the small smile that had been in place through most of the encounter. Holding out a hand to her, Castle was relieved when she took a hold and allowed him to pull her from the chair.

"Can I interest you in a late night viewing of _Elf_?" Castle asked as he led her from the office. "Or is there somewhere else you need to be?"

Taking her hand back, Castle's face fell slightly when he saw her starting to walk away.

"You coming?" Kate asked when she looked back over her shoulder before removing her coat and throwing it over the back of the couch.

Not needing another invitation, Castle hurried to set up the movie.

-o-O-o-

Early Christmas morning, Kate awoke to the sound of knocking on her front door. Groggy yet alert, Kate unlocked the door and pulled it open.

"Castle? What are you doing here?'

"Can I come in?" Castle asked in lieu of answering her question.

Stepping back and holding the door open, Kate stepped back to let him in.

As soon as the door was closed, Castle turned to face Kate.

"I got your message."

"Message?"

"Yep. Message. Well, promise really. I understand now how I stole your moment." Holding up the travel coffee mug that Kate had given him to night prior, he removed the lid and flipped it over so she could see. There, staring up at her were the words that she had fretted over including and was disappointed he hadn't noticed that night. _Always –KB_

Blushing slightly, Kate ducked her head so that her hair would hide her face.

Placing a finger under her chin, Castle gently pulled upwards, forcing her to look at him. Looking her right in the eyes, Castle slowly leaned forward, giving her an out if she wanted it. When she didn't make a move to stop it, Castle closed the distance between them and placed a gentle kiss on her lips.  
>Before she could do more than comprehend that he was kissing her, Castle had pulled away and was back standing with his hand on the doorknob.<p>

"Merry Christmas, Kate."

Pulling the door open, he walked through it before turning back and giving Kate a significant look.

_The next move is yours._

* * *

><p><em>AN: This story is now complete. I will not be adding any more to this._


End file.
